George C. Allington

Mr. George C. Allington, age 91, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Saturday, July 9, 2016. George was born in Cedar Springs in 1925, he lived in Solon Township most of his life. George grew up on Lime Lake and attended Christian Hill School, and Cedar Springs Jr. High and High School. George joined the Army on April 12, 1944, served in the European Theater, and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge on December 24, 1944. He received a Purple Heart, and the European Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Stars. He married Eldona “Donie” Louise Weller just before leaving for World War II, in August 1944. She preceded him in death in April of 2013. Upon return, they purchased a farm in Solon Township on Hanna Avenue and raised six children. George and Donie were married for 69 years. They operated a dairy farm for over 30 years. George also worked out at Rapistan, Sparta Foundry, Standard Oil, and Wolverine Brass in Grand Rapids until retirement. He was a charter member of the Pioneer Christian Reformed Church in Cedar Springs and served as a Deacon, Elder, and a Sunday School Teacher. After retirement, George and Donie served with Christian Reformed World Relief—now known as World Renew—and Appalachia Reach Out. On September 28, 2014 married Marilyn Baas and they had two happy years together. George is survived by his loving wife Marilyn, children, Dr. Richard (Dr. Ann McGill Franzen) Allington, Allen (HongXia) Allington, Len (Kimberly) Allington, David (Paula) Allington, Mary (Kim) Coonen, and Dale (Marcey) Allington. George was also blessed with 19 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchild. There will be a time of visitation on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 from 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, at 11:00 AM at Pederson Funeral Home, Rockford with Rev. Jacob Heerema officiating. Interment will be at Solon Township Cemetery under the auspices of the Kent County Veteran’s Honor Guard and the United State Army. Memorials to: World Renew, 1700 28th Street, Grand Rapids, MI 49508.

Arrangements by Pederson Funeral Home

www.pedersonfuneralhome.com

2013 Prince & Princess, Deagan Pike and Grace Middlebrook. Photo courtesy of the Red Flannel Festival.

The annual Red Flannel Prince and Princess contest was held Wednesday, September 25, at the historic Kent Theatre in Cedar Springs. According to Chair Anna Nozkowski, 25 kindergarteners participated in the contest, and winners were Deagan Pike, of Cedar Trails Elementary, and Grace Middlebrook, of Creative Technologies Academy.

Len Allington, of the Kent Theatre, was presented with a plaque for his outstanding service to the Festival. He was reportedly 100 percent surprised and touched by the gesture. “He has opened his doors to us for many years, and has always been gracious about lending his time,” said Nozkowski.

Solon Center – Velzy

Does anyone know anything about this photo?

Len Allington, of Solon Township, passed on a photo to us from his mother, Donie Allington, 86, also of Solon Township. It is of a group of men with pitchforks that looks like it may have been taken around or just before the turn of the century. She said it was taken at Solon Center (Algoma and 19 Mile Road), which was known as Velzy at the time.
“I was told it was a group of ‘modern woodsman.’ They harvested potatoes for a farmer that was too ill to do it,” she explained.
She added that her grandpa, Virgil Weller, is in the photo, possibly the first or second one from the left in the bottom row. There is a Virgil Weller buried in Solon Cemetery, with a birthdate of 1844, and death date of 1912.

Dear Editor,
I would like to take this opportunity to inform the residents of Solon Township that the Township Board is pushing to vote at the monthly meeting next Tuesday evening to finalize the plans for the new township hall/community building.  This action would pave the way to start construction this coming spring.
My concerns are these:  The original site plan did not include the future use of the entire parcel, only the immediate site of the new township hall.  The board has stated in the past that there are plans to use the property in the future as a site for a new fire station, a park with picnic pavilion, baseball and soccer fields and other amenities. These future plans were not taken into consideration when it came to the site location of the new hall.
Secondly, the board picked a group of Solon residents to come up with the building design and did not consult an architect.
I understand the that the Board would like to begin this project as soon as possible, but I think that they should proceed in a more prudent way, and make sure that if they are going to spend nearly a three quarters of a million dollars of taxpayer money ($200,000 borrowed), that the design of the entire parcel should be considered, and that an architect be consulted to make sure that the new hall and future buildings are designed in a way that is cohesive, the designs are inspired, and the finished product is something that the residents of Solon Township are truly proud of.
I encourage any Solon residents to come to the meeting at the Solon Township Hall next Tuesday evening (Dec. 13) at 7:30 and voice your opinions. If you have any questions you can call me at 231-750-2337.
Thanks,
Len Allington/Solon Township resident

By Judy Reed
The possibility that a horse barn on Solon Township property might be torn down has caused an outcry among some of the citizens of the township. About two dozen of them attended the township meeting Tuesday evening, where the board listened to their complaints and suggestions, and ultimately removed “removal of the pole barn” from the agenda.
Clerk John Rideout said it was not being tabled, but removed from the agenda. “The architect said it is not necessary to move it (the barn) from the site right now,” he explained. The board has a new preliminary site plan that showed the pole barn could co-exist with the township hall on the same property.
Solon Township resident and architectural photographer Len Allington said that it’s a beautiful barn and he’d hate to see it torn down. “I’ve traveled all over the world taking pictures of architecture and so I probably view it in a little different light than most,” he noted.
“I think it’s great that the board decided not to tear down the barn and to let the farm market continue,” he added.
Vicky Babcock, who spearheads the weekly farmers market on the property at 15185 Algoma, said there were a lot of vendors there last Saturday, and because it rained, they were all in the pole barn.
Supervisor Bob Ellick said that if people want the pole barn to be used for various things, leaders from the community would have to come forward to do that. “We are going to be busy working on the new town hall project,” he explained.
The board voted 4-1 Tuesday evening to begin the process of working toward construction on the new town hall. Ellick voted against it because he didn’t like the date put forth in the timeline regarding when construction should begin, which is April 1. He has also said he’d like to see the township not finance any part of it.
Clerk John Rideout said that they could pay cash since they have over a million dollars in the bank, and finance a portion. “It’s $650,000 and we might finance a couple hundred thousand. Each year we wait the price goes up. It makes more sense to invest our money in the property than let it sit in the bank right now.”
Many in the audience asked the board to slow down, saying it was the first time the public had seen the new site plan. Several members on the board said they weren’t rushing, but in fact had been working on the plan for a new township hall for a number of years.
Allington also said he didn’t think they should rush into building the township hall before sketching out a complete site plan, including a soccer field, baseball field, picnic areas, and other amenities. “Wouldn’t you look at the whole property first?” he asked.

Residents in the peaceful city of Cedar Springs discovered they had been struck with the “Tiger blood” when they awoke early Wednesday morning to see their water tower had been vandalized sometime during Tuesday night.

“What the heck does it mean?” said one resident of Pine Street who admitted that they never watched television. However, for those of us who actually do watch crap on T.V., it was perfectly clear. Charlie Sheen mania has struck right here in the heart of red flannel country!

Authorities currently have no leads but believe it was the work of someone in an air balloon. “We believe the perp(s) (perpetrators) hired an air balloon and hid it in one of these old buildings until dark when they allegedly filled it with helium, becoming airborne and then allegedly painted the water tower,“ said a dude in a police uniform.

Police are asking anyone in the area to come forward if they remember seeing an airbus or air balloon anytime between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“He [Sheen] is a train wreck waiting to happen and you just can’t look away,” said Len Allington, town know-it-all. Call your tips into (933) 665-3396 8 (WEF OOL EDYOU!)

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